Jury is a pillar of the legal system that upholds citizens’ right to trial by their peers. It ensures that the law is weighed and applied with community values in mind, and that verdicts reflect local standards of justice. The jury’s complex and comprehensive deliberation process sustains the integrity of the legal system and ensures that trials are fair and just.
Juries are generally used in cases involving serious criminal charges or civil lawsuits. A jury consists of ordinary members of the community (usually twelve members for criminal trials, but smaller numbers are constitutionally acceptable) who are summoned to court to hear evidence and make a ruling on questions of fact and law in a case. They are sworn to be impartial and to follow the judge’s instructions on how to weigh the evidence.
Prospective jurors are selected at random from a pool of citizens drawn from the county or district in which they live and represent a broad cross-section of community diversity. The jury selection process includes a phase called ‘voir dire,’ during which attorneys for the prosecution and defense question potential jurors to assess their suitability to serve on the panel. Attorneys have a limited number of ‘challenges for cause’ and ‘peremptory challenges’ to exclude individuals they believe are not capable of delivering an impartial verdict.
A head juror is chosen before the start of deliberations, and is known as a foreperson, forewoman, or presiding juror. The foreperson’s role includes asking questions of the jurors, facilitating discussion during deliberations, and announcing the jury’s verdict to the judge. The final decision is made by a majority vote of the 12 jurors. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, it can send the case back to court for further review by three professional judges.
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